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Russian Verbs With Prefixes: -явить Posted by on Jun 28, 2016 in Uncategorized

Our previous posts about verbs with prefixes were met with enthusiasm, so this time, let us look a group of important verbs with the root -яв-. The general meaning of this root is “to be or to make evident.”

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Являться

One of the most frequent verbs from this group is являться, which is a formal way of saying “to be.”

  • Именно наличие жилья является одной из основных причин возвращения иногородних студентов на родину, несмотря на отсутствие перспектив в отношении работы и заработной платы (It is precisely housing availability that is one of the main reasons why out-of-town students go back to their hometown despite poor prospects for employment and wages). [Ю. Ф. Флоринская, Т. Г. Рощина. Жизненные планы выпускников школ из малых городов (2004) // «Человек», 2005]

In addition to the “to be” sense, the perfective form, явиться, can also mean “to appear (to someone or before someone).” In this sense, явиться is colloquial.

  • В итоге на суд он не явился, а ударился в бега (He ended up not appearing in court but hitting the road). [Сыщики поймали гулю в постели (2004) // «Московский комсомолец» в Нижнем Новгороде, 2004.07.30]

A useful related word to know is явление, phenomenon. This word is used quite frequently in Russian to talk about pretty much any event or situation.

  • Безотцовщина, таким образом, стала в их семье явлением глубоко наследственным, в трех поколениях прочно утвердившимся (Thus, fatherlessness became a thoroughly hereditary state of affairs in their family, having established itself firmly over three generations). [Людмила Улицкая. Пиковая дама (1995-2000)]

Other related words include “явь” (reality as opposed to dreams or fantasy) and “наяву” (in waking life).

Объявлять

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Another popular verb is объявлять (imp.)/объявить (perf.), to announce. The related noun is объявление (“announcement,” “ad”).

  • Эти объявления хорошо иллюстрируют коммерческую тактику рестораторов «средней руки» (These ads illustrate commercial tactics of mid-range restaurateurs well). [Ирина Волкова. Наш общепит в Париже // «Родина», 2007]

The reflexive form, объявиться, means “to appear (suddenly/unexpectedly).” This is a fairly colloquial word akin to the English “pop up.”

Дядя явился на свадьбу без приглашения (My uncle showed up at the wedding uninvited).

Заявлять

Заявлять (imp.)/заявить (perf.) is a useful word meaning “to declare, to claim (that something is true).” A related noun, заявление (an official announcement, petition) refers not only to the act of claiming something but also to a specific format of an official letter from a person to a public official.

Молдавия заявила о желании присоединиться к Евросоюзу на Вильнюсском саммите в ноябре 2013 года (Moldova expressed its wish to join the European Union at the Vilnius Summit in November 2013). [Дарья Цой. Коммунистическая партия Молдавии требует отставки президента // Известия, 2014.06.26]

Появляться

Появляться (imp.)/появиться (perf.) is a fairly neutral way of saying “to appear.”

Первый футбольный клуб появился именно в этом городе Англии (It was in that town in England that the first football club appeared). [Интеллектуальные игры «З-С» // «Знание — сила», 2003]

Проявлять

Проявлять (imp.)/проявить (perf.) means to show something, like a character trait.

  • Альпинисты проявили мужество при восхождении на вершину (Climbers showed courage during their ascent to the summit).

Проявить may also refer to developing film.

Предъявить

passports

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Предъявить (perf.)/предъявлять (imp.) is to produce, to show, as in a piece of identification. Moreover, this verb is used in several frequent collocations like предъявить претензии (to file a complaint, to raise a claim) or предъявить обвинения (to accuse, to indict).

  • Нас остановила милиция, меня отвели в сторону: «Снимите верхнюю одежду. Предъявите документы». (We were stopped by the police, who took me aside. “Take off your coat. Can I see your ID?”) [Светлана Алексиевич. Время second-hand // «Дружба народов», 2013]

Have you seen any of these before? Any additions to the list?

 

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About the Author: Maria

Maria is a Russian-born translator from Western New York. She is excited to share her fascination with all things Russian on this blog. Maria's professional updates are available in English on her website and Twitter and in Russian on Telegram.


Comments:

  1. Walter:

    When I first learned Russian, I liked to say (in a deep voice) я являюсь Ангелом Смерти и тебе пора. I thought it was funny.

    • Maria:

      @Walter Ha, how did people react?

  2. Walter:

    They just laughed and looked at me weird.